Archive | October, 2011

“Potheads” candy has parents fuming

19 Oct

I love reading the owner defend his product without using the word “novelty.”

Felicia Williams, Community Liaison for Buffalo City Council member Darius Pridgen, holding a "Pot Pop" lollipop in Buffalo, N.Y. Image www.usatoday.com

 

Marijuana-shaped candy alarms parents, officials
By CAROLYN THOMPSON | www.usatoday.com | October 10, 2011

BUFFALO, N.Y. – Candy shaped like marijuana that’s showing up on store shelves around the country won’t get kids high, but aghast city leaders and anti-drug activists say the product and grocers carrying it represent a new low.

“We’re already dealing with a high amount of drug abuse and drug activity and trying to raise children so they don’t think using illegal substances is acceptable,” said City Councilmember Darius Pridgen. “So to have a licensed store sell candy to kids that depicts an illegal substance is just ignorant and irresponsible.”

The “Pothead Ring Pots,” “Pothead Lollipops” and bagged candy are distributed to retail stores by the novelty supply company Kalan LP of the Philadelphia suburb of Lansdowne. It also wholesales online for $1 for a lollipop and $1.50 for a package of three rings.

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TSA won’t pat down kids, as much or as often

18 Oct

I guess it is a step in the right direction.

Click to embiggen.



Fewer pat-downs for kids in TSA security checks
By Bart Jansen | USA TODAY | 9/14/2011

Children 12 years old and younger won’t have to take off their shoes to get on an airplane, and they’ll get patted down less, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said Tuesday.

These changes will be adopted in airports nationwide within months, after Transportation Security Administration (TSA) officers receive extra training, Napolitano told the Senate homeland security committee. The program will be expanding from a pilot program in six airports that began in the spring.

“There’d be additional training for a different pat-down procedure for them and also, again, allowing them to leave their shoes on,” Napolitano says.

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No one hurt when airplane hits ferris wheel

17 Oct

This is amazing in about 17 different ways.

“It’s pretty bizarre. I guess ferris wheels are stronger than they look.”


 

Plane crashes into NSW ferris wheel
www.abc.net.au/news | October 03, 2011

The pilot of a light plane that crashed into a ferris wheel at a fair on the New South Wales mid-north coast says he simply did not see it.

Four people, including two children, had to be rescued after the plane crashed into the wheel at the Old Bar Festival about 10:00am (AEST) on Saturday.

All four walked away unscathed.

Local pilot Paul Cox was flying with his son-in-law when he failed his first landing attempt on the airstrip next to the festival.

When he turned the plane around, he crashed into the ferris wheel.

Two children had to be rescued from a basket at the top of the ferris wheel and Mr Cox and his son-in-law were rescued after dangling from the top of the wheel inside their plane for more than an hour.

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Dennis Ritchie, father of C and UNIX computer languages, dies

16 Oct

This has been a week of immense losses in the technology field. While much ink has been poured and pixels twinkled over the passing of Steve Jobs of Apple, another great man in American technology, Dennis Ritchie passed away, too.

By creating C, Ritchie gave birth to the concept of open systems. C was developed so they could port Unix to any computer, and so that programs written on one platform (and the skills used to develop them) could be easily transferred to another. -Wired

It may seem unfair to remember one man’s life based on another’s but I think this wonderfully written, but long piece comparing and contrasting the contributions of both men does a nice job of showing, really, just how important Mr Ritchie’s contributions were.

Who wins? We all do. And now, it’s too late to personally thank either of them.

Dennis Ritchie accepting technology award from Bill Clinton. Image wikipedia

Ritchie on the left, Jobs on the right. Image Wired.

Was Dennis Ritchie more important than Steve Jobs?
OCTOBER 13, 2011BY GEOFF DUNCAN | www.digitaltrends.com

It’s an apples-to-oranges comparison, but the loss of two industry giants within a week makes us wonder: who’s contribution to modern technology is more important?

Computing pioneer Dennis Ritchie died this past weekend at age 70, becoming the second technology giant to pass within a week — the other, of course, being Apple’s Steve Jobs. Although Jobs was unquestionably the better-known figure, Ritchie was the creator of the C programming language and one of the primary developers of the Unix operating system, both of which have had profound impacts on modern technology. Unix and C lie at the heart of everything from Internet servers to mobile phones, set-top boxes and software. They have exerted tremendous influence on almost all current languages and operating systems. And, these days, computers are everywhere.

The coinciding events lead to an obvious question: Who was more important to modern technology, Ritchie or Jobs? It’s a classic apples-to-oranges question… but the search for an answer sheds a bit of light on what lead to the high-tech revolution and all the cool toys we have today.

Dennis Ritchie, Unix, and C
Dennis Ritchie was a computer scientist in the truest definition: He earned a degree in physics and applied mathematics from Harvard in the the 1960s and followed his father to work at Bell Labs, which was one of the hotbeds of tech development in the United States. By 1968 Ritchie had completed his Ph.D., and from 1969 to 1973 he developed the C programming language for use with the then-fledgling Unix operating system. The language was named C because it developed out of another language called B, created by Ken Thompson (with some input from Ritchie) for use with Multics, a Unix precursor. So, yes, even the name is geeky.

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Amazing mutation that causes lack of fingerprints

15 Oct

Crime writers take note some people have an amazing genetic mutation that means they are born without fingerprints.

 

 

The rare condition adermatoglyphia causes people to be born without fingerprints (file picture). Photograph courtesy Eli Sprecher, American Journal of Human Genetics

Mutated DNA Causes No-Fingerprint Disease
Genetic difference found in people with immigration-delay disease.
nationalgeographic.com | Rachel Kaufman for National Geographic News | August 9, 2011

A genetic mutation causes people to be born without fingerprints, a new study says.

Almost every person is born with fingerprints, and everyone’s are unique. But people with a rare disease known as adermatoglyphia do not have fingerprints from birth. Affecting only four known extended families worldwide, the condition is also called immigration-delay disease, since a lack of fingerprints makes it difficult for people to cross international borders.

In an effort to find the cause of the disease, dermatologist Eli Sprecher sequenced the DNA of 16 members of one family with adermatoglyphia in Switzerland. Seven had normal fingerprints, and the other nine did not. After investigating a number of genes to find evidence of mutation, the researchers came up empty-handed—until a grad student finally found the culprit, a smaller version of a gene called SMARCAD1. (Get a genetics overview.)

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Two-Faced Cat From Worcester Sets World Record

14 Oct

Wow,  that is some cat.

 

Marty with Frank and Louie

Frank (left side) and Louie (right), a so-called Janus cat, has two mouths, two noses, two normal eyes, one non-working eye in the middle of his head, and one brain. Image By Steven Senne, AP

Image boston.cbslocal.com


 

 

Two-Faced Cat From Worcester Sets World Record
By Diana Perez, WBZ-TV | boston.cbslocal.com | September 27, 2011

WORCESTER (CBS) – To most people meeting Frank ‘n Louie for the first time he looks like any ordinary cat.

“They initially walk up with the look of ‘oh what a beautiful cat’ and then as he turns I see the look of horror come across their face.”

Marty, Frank ‘n Louie’s owner says her cat with two names is also the cat with two faces and after turning 12 earlier this month, he’s now the oldest two-faced cat.

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Reebok must refund customers due to bogus “toning” claims

13 Oct

If you ever tried on a pair of these shoes, you’d wonder why it took so long for this case to come forward.

Fake claims

Snake oil shoe

Ads lie

Snake oil salesmen

Reebok to Refund Customers $25 Million Over Toning Shoes Complaint
By: Allison Berry | time.com | September 30, 2011

The only thing slimming down here is Reebok’s profit margins.

The athletic company agreed to pay up to $25 million this week in refunds to customers who bought their EasyTone brand sneakers. This settles a recent complaint filed by the FTC, which posited that Reebok’s claims about the health benefits of the shoes were false.

The EasyTone advertising campaign touted the shoes’ ability to strengthen legs and glutes, leading to a 28% improvement in buttock muscles, 11% improvement in hamstrings, and 11% improvement in calves as compared to regular walking shoes. But when the FTC investigated, they deemed the evidence to back these claims as insufficient.

The terms of the settlement prohibit Reebok from making any further claims about the sneakers’ exercise benefits unless backed by hard scientific facts. “The FTC wants national advertisers to understand that they must exercise some responsibility and ensure that their claims for fitness gear are supported by sound science,” David Vladeck, director of the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection, said in an FTC press release.

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Virus that kills breast cancer discovered

12 Oct

If this virus is really picky and only kills breast cancer that is great news. There are many compounds that kill cancer, that also kill everything else. Thanks to this article I now know breast cancer is the most common cancer in the world.

Random breast cancer image

 

Non-Disease Virus Kills Breast Cancer Cells In Lab
Main Category: Breast Cancer
Also Included In: Cancer / Oncology; Biology / Biochemistry; Immune System / Vaccines
Article Date: 23 Sep 2011 – 2:00 PDT
www.medicalnewstoday.com

A virus that infects humans without causing disease kills breast cancer cells in the laboratory. Researchers from Pennsylvania State University (Penn State) College of Medicine in the US, tested an unaltered form of adeno-associated virus type 2 (AAV2) on three different human breast cancer types representing different stages of cancer and found it targeted all of them. They hope by uncovering the pathways the virus uses to trigger cancer cell death, their work will lead to new targets for anti-cancer drugs. A paper on this work appeared recently in the journal Molecular Cancer.

In earlier studies, the team also showed that AAV2 promotes cell death in cervical cancer cells infected with human papillomavirus (HPV).

Cells have different ways of dying. When a healthy cell gets damaged, or starts behaving in an abnormal way, this normally triggers production of proteins that cause apoptosis or cell suicide: part of this process also involves switching off proteins that trigger cell division. The problem with cancer cells is that apoptosis fails, and the proteins that regulate cell division and proliferation stay switched on, so abnormal cells continue to multiply and create new abnormal cells and that is how tumors develop.

Breast cancer is the most common cancer in the world and the main cause of cancer-related death in women.

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Amish Mullets attack beards and other hair

11 Oct

That Mullet family is tough. Other reports state they have cut the hair of women as well.

Lester Mullet, Levi Miller and Brother Johnny Mullet. Image AP

Sam Mullet, father of two of the three men arrested for allegedly going into the home of another Amish man and cutting his hair and beard, talks outside his home in Bergholz, Ohio Monday, Oct. 10, 2011. Mullet said he didn't order the hair-cutting but didn't stop two of his sons and another man from carrying it out last week on a 74-year-old man in his home in rural eastern Ohio. (AP Photo/Amy Sancetta)

 

 

Amish men accused of forcibly cutting hair, beard of 74-year-old defend attack as religious dispute
BY Larry Mcshane, NY DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER | Tuesday, October 11th 2011 | www.nydailynews.com

You can blame these bad haircuts on the Mullets.

The head of an Amish group whose sons are accused of cutting the hair and beard of another Amish man says the unwanted trims are part of a religious dispute – and not a criminal act.

Sam Mullet, 66, said the shave and a haircut were in response to the mistreatment of his 120-member Amish sect by mainstream members of the religious group in eastern Ohio.

“They changed the rulings of our church here, and they’re trying to force their way down our throat, make us do like they want us to do,” Mullet said Monday. “And we’re not going to do that.”

Mullet’s two sons, Johnny and Lester, were arrested along with a third man on burglary and kidnapping charges after the weekend attack on a 74-year-old man in his Jefferson County home.

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“Magic Underwear” lawsuit

10 Oct

Magic undergarments are actually part of some religious beliefs so maybe this is not quite as wacky as it seems. Maybe.

Magnetic Underpants Questioned
www.loweringthebar.net  |  June 27, 2011

Lobatoz v. Dream Products Inc., No. BC463269 (Cal. Super. Ct., filed June 10, 2011).

Putative California-only consumer class action filed against Dream Products Inc. in California Superior Court (Los Angeles County) alleging deceptive marketing of the defendant’s “Magnetic Slimming Panties.” Plaintiff alleges under California consumer protection laws that the undergarments are falsely advertised as having healing properties and health benefits as a result of magnets contained in the undergarments.

Although I specialize in defending companies from consumer-protection claims, which is also good for this blog because many of those claims are so completely ridiculous, I do also sometimes point out cases where there is ridiculousness on the other side. There was the “Q-Ray Bracelet,” which a judge once questioned despite the fact that it was made from guaranteed “ionized Bio-Metal”; the hoo-ha over ear-candling; and the time when the dietary supplement “Gary Null’s Ultimate Power Meal” almost killed Gary Null. In fact, in connection with the latter story I noted that Gary Null was then selling what he called the “Magnetic Chi-Belt,” which he said was “designed to facilitate the use of magnets” in the groin area, although he didn’t say what for.

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Diamond Planet

9 Oct

Space is infinite and as our ability to explore grows so shall the wonders we find.

The data on the pulsar-planet pair were confirmed with follow-up observations with the Lovell radio telescope in Great Britain and one of the two Keck telescopes on Hawaii. The system is around 4,000 light years away towards the Serpens (Serpent) constellation in the plane of our Milky Way. Image www.spacedaily.com

 

 

The diamond planet
by Staff Writers, Bonn, Germany | Sep 02, 2011 | www.spacedaily.com

A star that changes into a diamond planet? What sounds like science fiction is apparently reality. The discovery was made by an international team of scientists from Australia, Italy, Great Britain, the USA and Germany, including Michael Kramer from the Max Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy in Bonn.

The researchers found the diamond planet with the help of the 64-metre Parkes radio telescope in Australia. The planet apparently orbits around an unusual, very dense star, a pulsar.

Pulsars represent the very last stages of star formation. They are rapidly rotating neutron stars the size of a small city which emit a highly focused beam of radio waves. As the star rotates, the beam sweeps over the earth – like the beam of light from a lighthouse – and radio telescopes detect a regular signal which seems to pulsate: thus the name pulsar.

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Space junk is a problem

8 Oct

What goes up must come down, unless it is in a stable orbit. Some cultures seem to care more about the space and earth environment and biological diversity than others.

…the worst contributor to the space junk problem came two years earlier when the Chinese tested an anti-satellite missile on their Fengyun-1C satellite. The system obviously worked; over 2,700 pieces of the destroyed craft remain in orbit today.

Space junk illustration from academics.uww.edu
An example of space junk that landed on earth. James Stirton surveys the lump of twisted metal, which he found on his cattle farm in Queensland, Australia. Image www.dailymail.co.uk

Space Junk Problem Reaches ‘Tipping Point’
Analysis by Ian O’Neill | Sep 2, 2011 | news.discovery.com

It’s bad news for all you aspiring space tourists out there. Soon, the only ticket into space may be of the suborbital variety and nothing more ambitious, like actually flying into orbit.

Earth is now surrounded by so much space junk that a leading expert on the issue has declared that we are at a “tipping point” — it may soon become too dangerous to venture into low-Earth orbit (LEO) through fear of having a manned spaceship punctured or a communications satellite trashed.

Ex-NASA scientist Donald Kessler led a National Research Council study into the orbital situation, and the outlook is grim. In Thursday’s announcement on the study’s findings, the amount of orbital rubbish “has reached a tipping point, with enough currently in orbit to continually collide and create even more debris, raising the risk of spacecraft failures.”

This is the nightmare scenario of the Space Age, and Kessler is all-to familiar with its ramifications. In 1978, when working in NASA’s Environmental Effects Project Office at Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas, he developed what became known as the “Kessler Syndrome.”

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